Love Potions: Hermione
by Alien Emerald
Summary: Hermione was acting strange. Her eyes wouldn’t leave Ron’s face for the life of her, and her increasingly giggly attitude had the boys skeptical. What was wrong with her? Ron only hoped it was what he thought it was. R/Hr Oneshot.


**Love Potions: Hermione**

**Hermione was acting strange. Her eyes wouldn't leave Ron's face for the life of her, and her increasingly giggly attitude had the boys skeptical. What was wrong with her? Ron only hoped it was what he thought it was. **

**XX**

"Hermione?"

No answer.

"Hello? Come on, Hermione, you have to get up."

Blank.

"Hermione! Please, wake up!"

Lavender turned back around to face Parvati, her face worrisome. Hermione had slept through the night soundlessly, and they had thought nothing of it when she didn't wake up immediately that morning. But now, with only 20 minutes until their first lesson, the situation turned frightening as they waved hands in front of the girl's blank face.

The problem wasn't that she was still asleep. The problem was that she was _awake. _

"Why isn't she moving?" said Lavender. She was frantically shaking Hermione, trying to get her to at least blink, to show that she was still alive. "Has she been poisoned?"

"I think we should go get someone…," said Parvati, anxious as well. "I don't know what's wrong with her."

The two girls turned and ran down the steps of their dormitory into the Gryffindor common room, where only a few students still were. Harry and Ron immediately jumped up when they came down the steps, looking around for their friend.

"Where's Hermione?" said Ron.

"We've been waiting for the past hour," said Harry. Parvati and Lavender stared at them, wondering if they should tell them the predicament that Hermione was currently in.

"We woke up this morning and Hermione wouldn't move!" burst Lavender, wanting desperately to tell someone. "She was just staring at the ceiling and wouldn't respond at all!"

Ron and Harry seemed shocked. The girls expected them to try and run up the stairs, but they had clearly learned better and decided to stay down at the bottom. Their last encounters of running up there had resulted in a long, painful slide down the girls' staircase.

"Hermione! Are you there?!" Harry called from the bottom of the staircase. Ron stood next to him.

Parvati and Lavender turned to leave, telling the boys that they would go and get Professor McGonagall to help.

"Hermione! You're going to miss a _class!" _Ron yelled. He turned back to face Harry, "You see, if Hermione is in some sort of spell, surely she'll come out of it if she realizes she might miss an opportunity to _learn." _

And just as Ron had predicted, Hermione came running down the staircase of her dormitory, still in her night gown, frantically scanning the common room. Ron just smirked at Harry, proud that _he _had been the one to come up with such a brilliant plan.

His smirk, however, was wiped off his face when Hermione came crashing into him in a bone-crushing hug. Harry immediately burst into a fit of laughter, while Ron just awkwardly patted Hermione on the back. She pulled away after a minute, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Um…," Ron began, trying to think of something to say. His ears were as red as a tomato, just as embarrassed as her. "You, uh, might want to go get dressed. You wouldn't want to miss your first lesson."

Hermione stared sheepishly at Ron, wringing her hands nervously in front of her. "Would you like that? If I got dressed?" she said.

Ron blushed furiously. "I…suppose so."

So as fast as she could, Hermione turned and dashed up the staircase, closing her door and furiously searching for her robes. Ron and Harry only had time to stare in wonder at each other before she came crashing back down.

On their way out of the portrait hole, they met Parvati and Lavender, frantically pulling along a disheveled Professor McGonagall. Upon seeing Hermione, both girls let go of the woman and stared at Harry and Ron. "How did you get her down?" asked Parvati.

"I just told her she would miss a lesson if she stayed up any longer," said Ron smoothly. "That brought her running."

Parvati and Lavender shared a quizzical look before shrugging and heading back into the common room to gather their things. McGonagall looked briefly at Harry, Ron and Hermione, then turned and left to go back to her business.

On their way down to their first lesson, Hermione refused to take her eyes off of Ron, even though she tripped numerous times. By the time they made it to the dungeon classroom, Hermione's robes were ripped at the knees, and Ron and Harry were beginning to suspect something was wrong with her.

The class began with Professor Slughorn demonstrating the effects of Delirium, a potion that made the drinker hallucinate vividly according to the ingredients placed into it. All though the whole class found it fascinating when he explained that a phoenix feather could cause dreams of birth, while a dog hair would cause dreams of friends, Hermione continued to ignore everything but Ron.

It was at this point that Ron turned and spoke to her. "Hermione, if you want to say something, just say it!" His ears tinted red.

"Do you want me to say something?" she said dreamily.

"Well…. Wait, what? It's your choice, not mine!" said Ron angrily. He was becoming increasingly irritated.

"Kay," she said simply. Moments later, without breaking eye contact with him once, she said in a quiet whisper, "So, what would you like me to say?"

An aggravated Ron turned around and sat out the rest of the class in silence.

XX

"Madam Pomfrey, we think something's wrong with her," said Harry as he sat an extremely giggly Hermione down on a chair in the infirmary. Ron had just apparently told an incredibly funny joke.

The stout woman walked in circles around Hermione, lifting up her chin and checking her pulse repeatedly. Then, turning to the boys, she said, "How has she been acting today?"

Ron and Harry shared a glance at each other, both unsure how to describe it. "Well…," began Ron, "she's sort of been…um…_interested _in me a bit more than usual. She's been sort of fidgety and giggly, and she won't even take notes in classes like usual."

Pulling back Hermione's hair, Madam Pomfrey peeled her eyelids back and looked into her eyes, tutting with her tongue. Then she stood up from her inspection, laughing heartily at the boys.

"It seems your friend here has been given a love potion," she said. "And a particularly strong one, mind you. You don't buy this kind of magic in Diagon Alley. Someone had whipped up a strong batch of it, and made Hermione here," she paused, pointing to the blithe girl on the chair, "fall in love with you." She pointed a finger at Ron.

Both boys stood struck by the news. Both had worried that this would be the case.

"Now," she continued, taking her glasses off her face, "unfortunately, there is not cure for a love potion, as there is no spell to break true love. The effects should wear off in a week or so, but until then I want one person to be responsible for her at all times. Love can do odd things to people, artificial or not, and you need an extra pair of eyes watching out for her in case she does something extreme." She paused, giving a lighthearted smile. "Naturally, the news of this will spread around the school soon enough, and it would be best for you to ignore the rumors that will go around. Hermione won't mind, because she's too in love to care, but you might, Ron."

She helped them gather Hermione and her things, escorting them to the door. "Thanks for your help, Madam Pomfrey," said Harry as they turned to leave. Ron nodded absently in agreement.

"Sure thing, boys," she said, waving them off. "Oh! One more thing!" she said, stopping them abruptly and causing a still-giggling Hermione to bump into Ron, making her burst into another fit of laughing. "The aftereffects of the potion will be unpredictable, but based on what I know about this girl…. They won't be pretty."

Madam Pomfrey winked at them, wished them luck, and closed the door. A solemn Ron, a guiltily laughing Harry, and a giggling, in love Hermione walked down the corridors towards the Great Hall for lunch.

XX

Over the next week, as Madam Pomfrey predicted, many events began to unfold.

There were several people in charge of Hermione at different points in the day, whom Harry had taken the liberty to assign the job: Harry and a less-willing Ron took care of Hermione whenever they were with her, which was during meals and most of the day they had with her. Parvati and Lavender had been only too happy to agree to help with Hermione during the nights when she was in the girls' dormitory with them, as well as Parvati in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes class. Luna Lovegood had agreed to help Hermione from class to class, or in other situations, when no other caretaker was around to help. She seemed to be completely nonchalant about it; it was as if dealing with love-sick girls was part of her job description.

Ron appreciated Luna's attitude the most; he became extremely agitated as the week wore on, with everyone teasing him during lessons when Hermione burst out with some secret confession of her love for Ron. Everyone seemed to find this the most interesting aspect of it all. When Hermione would randomly say, "Do you think I should bake a cake for him? Oh, I wonder what flavor he likes!" everyone would laugh and respond rudely. Luna just simply said, "Oh, yes, that would be nice! I think he likes chocolate cake, personally" as if it was the most normal conversation in the world.

The events that unfolded during the week, other than the teasing and caretakers, were the weirdest of all. Hermione loved giving Ron spontaneous hugs at the most random moments, such as during breakfast or class. She wrote him too many cards and letters to count, most which were 'secretly' delivered to Ron, which then found them in the fireplace the next night. Harry swore he saw Hermione crying when she saw Ron do this.

On Friday night, one of the weirdest things of Ron's life happened: he found himself not entirely alone at 3 o'clock in the morning.

XX

His first reaction was to yell when he felt skin touching his leg that wasn't his own. It was soft and warm, like hot butter, and he immediately knew it as Hermione's. Out of all the things she had done to him, this was by far the oddest and most extreme by far. She was in his _bed!_

He reached for his wand on the dresser next to his bed, muttering 'lumos' quietly to illuminate his bed side. Cursing himself for being so careless (his roommates would never let him live it down if they saw her next to him), he quickly closed the curtains and put a muffilato charm around his bed. Then, having secured the perimeter of his bed, he turned around to face Hermione.

She was facing him, her eyes closed, and soundly asleep. She looked peacefully happy, with the smallest of smiles on her face. Her brown bushy hair surrounded her face in, what he thought, was an elegant heap of hair. He had never seen a more beautiful figure.

His feet found hers under the covers, finding them small and cold as ice. He pulled her closer, feeling no hesitation as he wrapped his warm feet around hers. She sighed in contentment, fully asleep, and huddled against his chest.

He had a secret as well, although he would never admit it spontaneously like she had this past week: he loved every minute of every day when she was so madly in love with him. He had been waiting for this for 5 years. He wouldn't give it up for the world.

Pressing her as close as she would go to his chest, he fell soundly asleep.

XX

In the morning, a little before 5 AM, Ron awoke on his back, with a perfect doll of a figure sleeping soundly on his chest. He kissed her forehead, reveling in how incredible it smelled and tasted. He didn't want it to end yet. Maybe, if the love charm lasted forever, they could do this every night….

That was when he realized it was just a charm. Artificial love. No matter how dearly he loved Hermione, she only loved him under a charm. A powerful charm. Could she ever truly love him without help of a potion? The answer, clearly, was no.

She stirred quietly on his chest. He would need to wake her up and take her down to the common room before anyone woke up. Regretfully, he began to shake her shoulder. She looked up from his chest almost immediately, her eyes clear and piercing. They put a hole in his heart. Those were the eyes of a sober woman, a sober Hermione, one that was not under a spell of any kind.

"It was Ginny," she whispered immediately. "She put a love potion she made herself into a box of chocolates she gave me. I only had one, but it knocked me out immediately. I've been out until Thursday. I'm so sorry, Ron."

He ignored her words. She hadn't moved from her position on his chest, and that took him by surprise.

Thursday…. Wasn't today Saturday?

"Wait, Thursday?" he said, watching her carefully. She had yet to move from him. "So, you mean, yesterday….?"

She put her head back down on his chest, feeling sheepish. "I remember everything that happened while I was charmed. I'll be teased for a lifetime…" she paused, and he felt the pressure of her hand on his. "But I wouldn't give that week up for anything on earth."

Were his ears deceiving him? Was he still asleep, still dreaming peacefully about her? He didn't think so; the soft weight of her hand was too real to be a dream or deception.

"I think I really am in love with you, Ron," she whispered.

He couldn't think of any words that he could use at the moment, so he just sat up slowly, lifting her up with him, and pressed his lips against hers.

XX


End file.
